Field-gun carriage.



K. VO'LLER. FIELD GUN UABRIAGB. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27, 1913.

Patented Mar.17,1914

fi zzzz v UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

KARL VCiLLEIt, 0F DUSSELDQRF, GERMANY.

FIELD-GUN CARRIAGE.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, KARL VoLLER, engineer, a subjectof the German Emperor residing at 12 Scharnhorststrasse, Dusseldorf, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in F ield-Gun Carriages; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willv enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,

The invention relates to an improved carriage for field guns, by which is to be understood in this connection any carriage, in

which the gun is transported and fired on wheels; the invention relates more particularly to guns, which have a very large horizontal range of fire and according to the invention no preparations are requiredbe fore firing to insure lateral stability, by

folding down the sides of the carriage orsetting up special supports, as is usually done in other constructions of this kind.

A large traverse is obtained by spreading out the sides of the carriage at the rear and connecting them by a trail plate, which is constructed to act as a spade throughout its length. A tubular tail piece provided with a spade is pivoted tothe trail plate and serves as an extension of the carriage and provides suflicient stability, when firing with small elevation,for instance against targets on the. battle field. The arrangement .enables the gun to be easily transported in spite of the large spread of the sides of the carriage and to be readily steered when limbered up. The spade on the trail plate may be toothed, so as to have a holding surface along all its length.

A construction according to the invention is shown in Figure 1 in side view and in Fig. 12in a plan view from above.

The sides a of the carriage are, as seen in Fig. 2, spread out widely at the rear. They are connected by :1 preferably curved trail plate Z), which is constructed to act as aspade' along all its length. A tubular ex tension (Z provided with a' -spade e is pivoted to the trail plate 5 bymeans of a pin c.

When a short carriage is fired at elevated targets the tail piece (Z is tilted upward and used as a hand spike. VVhen firing at ele vated targets considerable traverse must be allowed for, and it is important that care should be taken to insure lateral stability;

Specification of Letters Patent.

'ing witnesses.

this is attained in the present arrangement, since even when the traverse is great the aiming line always falls within the bearing surface-of the spade or of the trail plate. In order that the carriage may be easily nioved through the soil the trail plate is curved in the arc of a circle. The center lies between the wheels near the middle of the axis or of the center of gravity S of the gun. The fore part of the carriage is narrowed to the ordinary dimensions, so that the gun layers have roomv to carry out any operations on either side between the carriage and the wheels.

Having thus described my invention What claim is:

1. A field carriage for guns having an extended horizontal traverse, comprising, in combination with carrying wheels and an axle therefor, divergent side members secured to said axle, a continuous curved trail piece connecting said side members at their ends, and a spade extending from said trail piece thereof.

' 2. A field carriage for guns forming an extended horizontal traverse, comprising, in combination with carrying wheels and an axle therefor, divergent side members secured to said axle, a trail piece connectin said members at their outer ends, said trail piece being formed on an arc struck from approximately the full length .near the middle of the axis or center of gravity of the gun, and a spade forming part of said trail piece and extending approximately throughout its length.

3. A field carriage for guns forming an extended horizontal traverse, comprising, in combination with carrying wheels and an axle therefor, divergent side members secured to said axle, a trail piece connecting said members attheir outer ends, said trail piece being formed on an arc struck from near the middle of the axis or centen'of gravity of the gun, and a spade pivotally connected tosaid trail piece at the cente thereof.

Intestimony whereof, I have signed this specification'in the presence of two subscrib- KARL voLLER. as

l/Vitnesses HELEN NUFER, ALBERT NUFER.

Patented Mar. 17, 1914. Application filed June 27, 1913. Serial No. 776,173. 

